When DFCS Calls

As a family lawyer, I dread for my clients the Department of Family and Children Services and its involvement in my clients’ lives. Few things can strike more fear in a parent than a call from DFCS, especially wherein the assigned caseworker will refuse to provide any information and say nothing more than, “We want to speak with you.” About what? Is my child okay? Have I done something wrong?

A phone call with anyone from DFCS should immediately be followed by a phone call to a lawyer. Period. Often, the DFCS representative will create a sense of urgency to make the meeting occur as quickly as possible. This urgency is often not driven by actual emergency concerning a CHILD but is urgency created by the Department that its workers must do something within some bureaucratically determined period of time.

DFCS is a government agency. While its agents do not have the power to arrest you, they do have the power to make nearly 100% certain that you are arrested, if they so choose. A DFCS worker need only call someone in law enforcement who can then apply for a warrant and come for you with cuffs. For this reason, among many more, it is not advisable to have any dealings with DFCS without legal representation.

Because it is so important for persons “called upon by DFCS” to have legal counsel, it follows that the agency would also do all in its power to prevent you from having this counsel. I have yet to meet any DFCS caseworker who is willing to engage with a parent if that parent wishes to have his/her lawyer present. I  frequently advise my clients who have elected or been forced to meet with DFCS without counsel to record their meeting. (I recommend the application iTalk Recorder Premium for $1.99 from the App Store.) DFCS workers also hate this and will frequently terminate the meeting if they find out they are being recorded.

Explaining something from your life to the government is about as useful as explaining a recipe to a spatula. Like DFCS, a spatula lacks the ability to reason. A spatula can only flip pancakes (and in my mother’s kitchen occasionally serve the dual purpose as implement for corporal discipline of wayward children), and a DFCS worker can only take whatever “next step” is prescribed, usually make a report, put the issue on a shelf, or refer the matter to law enforcement.

When DFCS calls, call your lawyer.